“The new moon phase symbolizes always being at the beginning and end seeing life as an ever opening bud. The intuition rather than logic rules here, the projection of self on other's motivations. Very powerful for beginnings and endings”

7 of Coins

Planetary ruler the Sun

The image for the 7 of Coins is a multi-layered view of the concept of reward from hard work. In the distant foreground are golden wheat fields as far as the eye can see. Closer at the edge of the wheat fields are farm workers harvesting the wheat. In front of the field hands you can see a woman pulling a freshly baked loaf of bread from the oven. In front of the woman there are loaves of bread in the process of being made as well as a basket of bread ready for distribution to the workers.

In close-up there is a loaf of freshly baked bread sliced and resting on shafts of wheat. Overlaying the entire image are 7 coins imprinted with symbols, which represent the 7 Sacred Directions as they were taught to me in a Native American Studies class at UW-Milwaukee.

The Sacred Directions go as follows:EAST-direction of new beginnings, the rising sun and the season of Spring, SOUTH-direction of work and responsibility, the season of Summer, WEST-direction of death, the setting sun, the harvest and the giving back, the season of Autumn, NORTH-direction of the spirits, healing, season of Winter, ABOVE- The Great Spirit/Gitche Manitou. BELOW- Mother Earth and the seventh and equally important to all other sacred directions is WITHIN. The idea of WITHIN being as sacred as all the other directions was empowering, liberating, invigorating to me. I was raised Catholic and the only Sacred direction I was familiar with was above...namely God in His heaven. Don't get me wrong we were taught that God was all around us and in each of us but you couldn't see him. He had male Archangels in the four directions but they seemed to be watchers for surveillance. We didn't talk about them much and we didn't pray to them they didn't do anything except guard duty. BELOW had been a bad direction. It was where Hell was, a place of eternal damnation for people who were bad. I loved and much preferred the idea of BELOW as the Earth Mother of All of us, plants, animals, and people all-inclusive. Like gentle hands always there below my feet, the place where the atoms of my body came from. The Earth where the food we eat comes from, The Great Ancient Earth Mother who showed us if you work hard you will be rewarded with abundance. One only has to open a single melon and look at all the seeds (potential new plants and countless fruits) to see that it takes great effort and cunning to create deficit, dependence and want on Earth.

Each of us is part of the 7 sacred directions. The work that we do is part of Creation. Work done well becomes a joy in itself. Like the grain that becomes part of the bread and the bread that is eaten by the farm worker which gives him energy as he plants and then harvests the grain we are ALL part of the great cycle of life.

Think for the moment of the serenity in hypnotic repetitive motion. For this card represents the time when a person is beginning to see the first of his harvest with the knowledge there is more work ahead. The hardest work is still ahead. Delightful or not one heads into the middle of the job daydreaming of the time you will be finished. Then with the job done one yearns to begin anew for the joy of the activity and triumph of completion.

Traditional tarot meaning: a reward from hard work,

In a Reading: This card represents patience and hard work before rewards. It is symbolized by peasants toiling in a field but could just as well be someone at the gym working out for better health. Simply it is the benefits received from working hard.

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